Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis says the noise around the withdrawal of Ben Simmons for the World Cup warm-up games is "doing a disservice" to the same squad that captivated the country at the 2016 Olympics. The Boomers, powered by Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut, were denied bronze in Brazil in an agonising one-point loss to Spain that is still raw with the players. The addition of NBA All-Star Ben Simmons was touted as the missing piece as Australia hunt a maiden international medal at the World Cup in China from September 1. The Philadelphia 76ers talent was forced to twice retreat from his initial Boomers commitment though, first pulling out of the World Cup and last week excusing himself from Australia's four lead-up games against the USA and Canada in Melbourne and Perth. That, along with multiple high-profile US withdrawals, earned the ire of some fans, who Lemanis said would soon be reminded of the Australian squad's depth. "It's doing a disservice to the talent available to us," Lemanis said of the grumbles. "We've got four NBA champions (Aron Baynes, Matthew Dellavedova, Bogut and Mills) plus Joe Ingles who starts on a great NBA team (Utah Jazz) and a core of the group that did well in Rio and captured the imagination of the Australian public," he said. "We've got a talented team that is perhaps being undersold by the tension put on Ben not playing. "Hopefully we can digest and think 'we've still got a good team and they share the ball, it'll be fun to watch' and that is what people enjoyed about Rio." A 17-man squad will gather in Melbourne on Friday, with the final 12-man World Cup roster due to be announced next week. Australia will face Canada, Senegal and Lithuania in their World Cup pool games, with the final in Beijing on September 15. "To have players on hand with the talent required (to win the World Cup) is just awesome," Lemanis said. "You don't need the stars and planets to align to have a chance of winning and that's a good feeling. "It's not even a feeling of pressure or extra pressure; it's your own self-motivation." Australian Associated Press

More to Boomers than just Simmons: Lemanis

Ben Simmons is in Melbourne for his annual basketball camp, not national team duty.

Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis says the noise around the withdrawal of Ben Simmons for the World Cup warm-up games is "doing a disservice" to the same squad that captivated the country at the 2016 Olympics.

The Boomers, powered by Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut, were denied bronze in Brazil in an agonising one-point loss to Spain that is still raw with the players.

The addition of NBA All-Star Ben Simmons was touted as the missing piece as Australia hunt a maiden international medal at the World Cup in China from September 1.

The Philadelphia 76ers talent was forced to twice retreat from his initial Boomers commitment though, first pulling out of the World Cup and last week excusing himself from Australia's four lead-up games against the USA and Canada in Melbourne and Perth.

That, along with multiple high-profile US withdrawals, earned the ire of some fans, who Lemanis said would soon be reminded of the Australian squad's depth.

"It's doing a disservice to the talent available to us," Lemanis said of the grumbles.

"We've got four NBA champions (Aron Baynes, Matthew Dellavedova, Bogut and Mills) plus Joe Ingles who starts on a great NBA team (Utah Jazz) and a core of the group that did well in Rio and captured the imagination of the Australian public," he said.

"We've got a talented team that is perhaps being undersold by the tension put on Ben not playing.

"Hopefully we can digest and think 'we've still got a good team and they share the ball, it'll be fun to watch' and that is what people enjoyed about Rio."

A 17-man squad will gather in Melbourne on Friday, with the final 12-man World Cup roster due to be announced next week.

Australia will face Canada, Senegal and Lithuania in their World Cup pool games, with the final in Beijing on September 15.

"To have players on hand with the talent required (to win the World Cup) is just awesome," Lemanis said.

"You don't need the stars and planets to align to have a chance of winning and that's a good feeling.

"It's not even a feeling of pressure or extra pressure; it's your own self-motivation."